Bihar Higher education drive Bihar will soon become a hub of professional education following the inauguration of a number of greenfield technical and medical institutes, the state’s chief minister Nitish Kumar said at a press conference in Darbhanga district on November 20. “The state government is promoting new engineering and medical colleges to prevent the flight of students to other states for professional education, and also to attract students to Bihar,” said Kumar after inaugurating two engineering colleges in Motihari and Darbhanga districts in north Bihar. Three more engineering colleges will soon be inaugurated in Begusarai, Madhepura and Sitamarhi, he added. Together, the four new engineering colleges will offer 780 seats. Moreover, the state government has asked the Medical Council of India to accord sanction for five more medical colleges, and grant permission to introduce postgraduate courses in existing medical colleges besides increasing the number of seats. The state government has also identified 500 acres for promoting a new Indian Institute of Technology at Bihta, adjacent to the state capital. Moreover it has selected a 1,000 acre site for a Mahatma Gandhi University in Motihari in East Champaran district, Kumar informed media personnel. Jammu & Kashmir Operation Sadbhavana excursion A group of 25 school children from Baramulla district (Jammu & Kashmir) embarked on a multi-city tour of India under the Indian Army’s Sadbhavana (Goodwill) programme on November 20. “The children will be visiting New Delhi, Agra and Ajmer among other destinations over ten days. The objective of the tour is Paigam-e-Aman (message of peace),” said Brigadier V.P. Singh, commander of the Rampur Brigade, after flagging off the tour. Organised for the children of Nambla High School in the Uri sector, the excursion is sponsored by the Ramput Brigade under Operation Sadbhavana. “The tour will enable children to observe how people of different faiths and creeds live together in India,” added Singh. “Our children are lucky to go to Srinagar and other parts of the country. Many of us have never visited even Srinagar,” comments Maqbool Wani, a parent of one of the children. Goa Garbage dump controversy Nine students of a high school in Panaji were taken ill, due to an unbearable stench emanating from garbage dumped in the vicinity of the school, by the City Corporation of Panaji (CCP). Class VII-VIII students of People’s High School in Mala had to be shifted to an urban health centre after they began vomiting and complained of abdominal pain. “The CCP is dumping its garbage right next to the school resulting in a stench which pervades the school,” teacher Dattatray Ghanekar told reporters on November 19. “As the classes started this morning, nine students began vomiting one by one. We had to summon ambulances and get them admitted immediately in the nearest urban health centre.” Earlier on November 12, students of People’s High staged a protest rally before the office of CCP mayor Tony Rodrigues. The school’s reaction earned it a show-cause notice from the state government’s education department. The issue of…
